Lethal road to Iraq vote

Struggle over lawless town highlights election obstacles

September 30, 2004|By Rick Jervis, Tribune staff reporter.

LATIFIYAH, Iraq — There is no traffic in Latifiyah.

No cars, chickens, pigs, people or roadside cigarette stands, a staple in most Iraqi towns. Shops are shuttered, homes are closed and quiet, and, most disturbing to at least one Marine patrolling this rural town 20 miles south of Baghdad, there are no signs of children.

"They play inside," said Sgt. Yousif "Moose" Almoosawi, a platoon sergeant with the 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, as he pointed his M-16 assault rifle down another empty alley. "Not a good sign."

Away from the spotlight of insurgent uprisings in Fallujah, Ramadi and Baghdad, Latifiyah has quietly become a lawless, lethal thorn in the side of U.S. troops. Local police have fled or been killed, leaving the town in the hands of Islamic insurgents, kidnappers and common thugs, military officials said. To emphasize that point, insurgents blew up the police station two weeks ago.

The streets around Latifiyah have become so laced with roadside bombs, known in military parlance as improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, that military officials here call it the "IED capital of Iraq."

Two French journalists were kidnapped last month from the highway that cuts through Latifiyah. And this month, gunmen ambushed a convoy carrying Ahmad Chalabi, leader of the Iraqi National Congress party, on the highway outside Latifiyah, killing two of his bodyguards. Chalabi survived.

The struggle to return order to towns such as Latifiyah highlights the challenges faced by coalition forces to secure Iraq before general elections in January, an effort that stretches beyond the big-name cities and into towns and enclaves all over the country.

Without such stability, Washington and Baghdad must decide whether elections can be held in all parts of the country and whether the vote would be considered legitimate if all Iraqis don't have an opportunity to participate. The U.S. also must decide how many casualties--military and civilian--it would be willing to accept to pacify remote areas of the country.

"Right now, Latifiyah is more dangerous than Fallujah," said Sgt. Devon Hawkins, another platoon sergeant with the 2nd Battalion, 24th Marines. "Every day we have an IED. Every day someone who is seen working with Americans gets killed here. It's complete lawlessness."

Since the U.S. military closed nearby Highway 1, Highway 8 has become the main thoroughfare between Baghdad and the southern cities of Najaf, Nasiriyah and Basra. The Iraqi National Guard has permanent stations in Mahmoudiya and Iskandariyah. But in between, towns on Highway 8 such as Latifiyah have been overrun by insurgents, military officials said.

Their weapon of choice: IEDs. The homemade devices incorporate 81 mm mortar shells, 130 mm or 155 mm artillery rounds or 100-pound aerial bombs, many times daisy-chained together and wired to a stand by the side of the road, where a triggerman waits for passing convoys, officials said.

On Saturday night, a Marine Mobile Strike Team discovered an IED made of 15 130 mm artillery shells daisy-chained by the side of Highway 8, officials said.

Later that night, a six-vehicle convoy was returning from a mission in central Latifiyah when an IED exploded under one of the armored Humvees. The bomb disintegrated the Humvee's front end. Its transmission and engine parts rained down on the vehicles behind it, and the grenade launcher mounted on its roof was found in a field 30 feet away, according to a witness.

Officials blamed insurgents--described as Baath Party loyalists and an assortment of common criminals.

All five passengers survived, saved by the Humvee's armor. So far, three members from the 2nd Battalion, 24th Marines have been recommended for Purple Hearts.

Sgt. Eliasard Alcauter, a vehicle commander, was in the back seat.

"I saw a bright flash but didn't even hear the bang," said Alcauter, who suffered a mild back sprain. "Next thing I know, it was like I was riding a rodeo horse. The vehicle was bouncing up and down. It was crazy."

The insurgents probably are using weapons and ammunition looted from the nearby Qa-Qaa complex, a 3-mile by 3-mile weapons-storage site about 25 miles southwest of Baghdad, said Maj. Brian Neil, operations officer for the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, which initially patrolled the area.

The site was bombed during last year's invasion and then left unguarded, Neil said.

"There's definitely no shortage of weapons around here," he said.

The task to secure Latifiyah had belonged to the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines, which went after insurgents with large offensives and tactical cordon-and-search missions. This month that responsibility was handed to the 2nd Battalion, 24th Marines, a unit with headquarters in Chicago comprising mainly reservists from Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa (slogan: "Mayhem from the Heartland").